A savvy home buyer knows to look beyond the price of the house and potential mortgage rate when calculating the actual cost of homeownership. Other factors like insurance, homeowners’ association fees, and property tax also play a role in determining how affordable – or unaffordable – a home actually is for your budget. That’s why ATTOM Data Solutions recently took a look at one of the major – and often overlooked – costs of homeownership: property taxes. According to its data, ATTOM found the average single-family home saw a 3-percent property tax increase in 2026 over year-before levels. Rob Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, says taxes are about more than just the home’s value. “Even with a slight dip in prices, higher tax bills combined with declining home values led to an increase in effective tax rates, underscoring the role of local government costs and shifting tax policies,” Barber said. To that end, property taxes vary greatly from one region to the next, with the Northeast and Midwest typically seeing the highest taxes. (source)
